Letters to the editor for August 16, 2012

Ray Anderson’s claim that “Obama’s world view is wrong and dangerous” from his Aug. 7 Letter to the Editor, is based on his selective, out of context, and ultimately dishonest reading of what Obama said about building a business. No business was built without lots of help. Help means someone fought to keep the country free so a business could prosper, and someone else paid taxes for police, etc so the business could survive. Also, someone paid the business’ customers money for their labors so they could spend it elsewhere. Obama is a classic example of the American dream come true.

A funeral procession, is lively, a celebration of a life and the loss of it. The fair this year seemed more like a Bataan Death March.

We all know where we’re headed, stay in line, stay put and no turning back. How have we gotten to this point? While there are those to blame (some more than others), this one’s our fault, maybe because we all thought that our fair would always be there for us (that old pair of shoes and the like).

So it wasn’t nurtured and attended to as it should have been, and this is the result.

I love this fair, warts and all. I’m just as guilty of neglecting the place as all the other “extraordinaires” out there, and if this is the first step on that march and the Mother Lode Fair fades away into the annals of history, the loss to us all cannot be quantified. But I will leave roses.

Tom Griffiths

Sonora

Thank you Candidate Romney

To the Editor,

Candidate Romney has selected Paul Ryan as his running mate. This is a huge gift to the Democratic party.

Ryan is opposed to Social Security and to Medicare “as we know it.” If I lacked these two programs I would be dead.

Moreover, my two children are approaching the age for these programs. They are not stupid. And they vote.

Since 2003 the U.S. has waged two wars in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. These wars have cost trillions of dollars, yet who asks how these costs are covered? They are the only wars in our history that have been fought without raising taxes to pay for them.

Indeed, they were waged simultaneously with a tax cut.

So how are the costs of these wars paid for?

The costs were paid for by loans from China. Congress deferred the costs to the future.

The future is now. What are the proposals for paying for these wars now? Cuts in public safety, education, safety net programs that help the needy and the elderly; cuts to maintaining our infrastructure and to research programs that give business cutting edge innovations.

Rather than raise taxes to pay for the wars we supported, legislatures are cutting programs that will restrict the future options of our children and of our country.

Cuts in education reduce options for our children and deny businesses the skilled workers they need.

Microsoft alone has 5,000 jobs unfilled because applicants do not have the necessary skills.

These cuts are foolhardy and a huge threat to our country.

We must reconsider our views on taxes and send a new message to our elected representatives, insisting that they act in our country’s best interests.

When President Ronald Reagan doubled the defense budge in the early 1980s, he also proposed increases in taxes which were passed by Congress. He understood the need to pay for what you buy.

We bought two wars and now it is time to step forward and pay the bill.

Ellen Beck

Sonora

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